Padded saddle seat construction



Feb. 2, I954 c. A. PERSONS 2,667, 11

' PADDED swam: SEAT cons'rRuc'rmu Original Filed Nov. 29, 1947 2 Si eets-3hgat1 INVENTOR. Charles A Persons Feb. 2, 1 954 c, PERSONS 2,667,911

PADDED SADDLE SEAT CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Nov. 29, I947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Churle; A. Persons Patented Feb. 2, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PADDED SADDLE SEAT CONSTRUCTION chusetts Original application November 29, 1947, Serial No. 788,906, now Patent No. 2,600,915, dated June 17, 1952. Divided and this application June 27, 1949, Serial No. 101,566

' 1 Claim.

This invention relates to saddles for bicycles, tricycles, motorcycles and other wheeled vehicles which for further reference and convenience will be simply referred to as saddles.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a saddle of the spring type having a degree of simplicity, ease of assembly, permanence of construction and economy of manufacture beyond any device of this sort previously known.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a novel attachment of the customary coiled front spring to the base or supporting spring, wherein these springs are connected without the use of a bolt and nut heretofore used for attaching the two springs together; and a novel connection for these springs so that the front spring, which attaches to the top or seat of the saddle, will depress and yield to a blow or bounce on the front of the saddle yet return instantly to its normal position upon the pressure thereon being released.

Another object of the invention resides in the elimination of the special headed bolt for attaching the rear of the base or supporting spring to the rear vertical springs. For mechanical sound-- ness and durability it is necessary to connect the vertical springs by at least two of their coils, this requiring specially headed and costly bolts. As an improvement, I add a small sheet metal clip flanged and curved with an outside radius equal to the inside radius of the springs and use an ordinary headed bolt which passes througha hole in this clip and an eye in the base supporting spring and in this manner partly encircle two or more of the vertical spring coils and lock the vertical spring and the base spring permanently together through the use of an ordinary nut on the bolt.

A further object of the invention resides ina new and improved construction for the seat of' the saddle. Seat saddles are made of two types, the older consisting of a molded top covering as leather or Leatheroid, ordinary padding molded to a formed steel plate, and fabric underneath the top. The fabric or leather portions are trimmed and their edges bound with gimp which is stitched through the fabric around the entire periphery.

Another and more widely used method consists oi the top being made of leather orimitationi'.

leather, padding, and a light steel plate. The periphery of this top, flexible material 1s turned inwardly and a light, small metal bottom plate is clamped or bolted down so the periphery or edge of the top material is gripped between the two metal plates. However, it has been a problem in the past to keep the flexible top material from working out from between the two plates, therefore, I add a series of pointed projections in the bottom plate with the points projecting in and upward so that when the complete top is assembled under pressure, as in a mold, these pointed projections grip the fabric or leather and draw it tight into the underneath side of the intermediate plate and hold it there permanently. This construction further obviates the common use of glue, latex or similar adhesives. The bottom plate, formed to register with the upper plate, is locked to the upper plate by either of two different methods. The first method is to lock the upper plate to the bottom plate by the use of clamps which consist of tongues of metal originally formed downward from the intermediate plate and passing through corresponding slots in the lower plate. In assembly these tongues are turned outwardly to retain the inner and outer plates in tight relation. In an alternate method the toothed lower plate is retained in tight relation to the upper plate, with the turned in saddle covering between the two plates, through the use of the bolts which attach the entire top to the springs.

'Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

.. Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken on taken on line 10-40 of Fig. 8 further illustrating the spring connection; and

Fig. 11 is a top view of the bottom saddle plate which illustrates the series of pointed projections;

The saddle top it, which may be of any suitable construction and materials; is mounted on a spring set which consists of a front spring I2, usually a nose coil, a pair. of .coil compressionextension springs i l, suspended from therear. of the saddle top is by rods 56, and a suitable frame,

or supporting spring is which has two runs and-' extends from the front springs E2 to the rear springs Hi and is attached to thesesprings-MTT by bolts 2s, as shown in Figs. 8 and 10. The

compression-extension springs M are secured to the supporting spring 58 by means of a small curved and flanged sheet metal clip or plate 22, which grips two of the coils of the vertical springs it, between the flanges, bolt 23 passing through a hole in the clip and an eye 26% which is formed in the end of each run of the supporting spring 18. In this manner the vertical springs M are permanently locked together with the supporting spring is by use of a conventional nut 26-on the bolt 29f A cross brace rod 28 is eyed at both ends as at 3i), and the bolts pass therethrough, also. By the use of the clip 22 it is possible to use a single compound spring at each end of rod 28 as the vertical spring it instead of two separate springs as has been used heretofore. This construction greatly facilitates assembly, a single pair of compound springs giving the comfort and re-- silience during riding only obtainable previous-' ly by use of two pairs of springs, one'pair-being compression springs and the other pair being extension springs.

The forward portion of the supporting spring 18 is hingedly connected to the front spring l2? The supporting spring i8, comprising a pair of spaced stiff wires or runs, 'theforward portions of which form a generally U-shaped joint, has its extreme forward portion bent upward into an L shape portion as at 32, forming a crosspocketopen at the bottom.-

The lower end of the front spring l2 extends rearwardly and is formed with a'double-or 8 curve at as which receives the L shape 32 of the, supporting spring is. spring it normally rests in the forward curve or pocket 35 of this double curve. The rear extremity of the front spring i2 is formed into an eye 38 of a suitable size and shape to pass the end of the supporting spring I8 and said eye 38- The portion 32 of the slots-or holes to accept the tongues.

is free to hinge downwardly about the eye 38 under a blow or bounce at the pommel, but its upward movement is checked by contact with the portion 32 of the supporting spring l8, and the opening of the eye 38 is of such a size that the two parts will be retained in their proper relation by friction and cannot become disassembled in 'riding. The resilience of spring I2 returns the seat to up position upon relief of downward pressure on the pommel.

A comparison of Figs. 1 and 6 shows how the resilience of the pommel is obtained. Fig. 1 shows the condition of the spring 52 when the seat isunweighted, the tension of the spring causing it toabut the supporting spring 8 at the. portion 38. When the pommel receives a shock load, as illustrated in Fig. 6, the eyed end 38 of the spring acts as a pivot but this end of the spring does not bend. All the give is in the 'coilx'of the front-spring i2, which easily resumes normal positionwhen the load is removed, be-

- causeitslimit of deformation cannot be reached even in extremely rough riding or accident.

The'rear springs M are a combination of compression and extension with the upper portions thereof being open wound coil and the lower portions of close wound coil, which are attached to the saddle plates by means of a rod as connecting rods l6 locked thereto.

Fig. 3 illustrates the method of securely fastening the molded leather or imitation leather top lfl'to the frame of the saddle which consists of an inner plate 42, an outer plate "is and'the spring type frame previously described. In assembling; the top Iii, previously molded to the desired shape and filled with suitable cushioning material 46, such as a felt pad, is placed over the intermediate steel plate -32. The edges of the top- 10 are folded "over and around the intermediate plate 42 and over this is placed the outer steel plate 44 havinga series of pointed projections 48, these projections having their points projecting inwardly'and upwardly. When the outer toothed plate is pressed together with the inner plate Q2, thefolded over edges of the top I!) being between both plates, the projections-48 grip the topla drawing it in and securely locking it between the two plates. The two plates-are fastened together by use of a headed bolt 50 which passes through a hole in the inner plate and a matching hole in the outer plate. 'I'he 'whole seat is assembled together with the spring frame assembly and locked together by theme of a nut on the headed bolt 56.

An alternative method of attaching the intermediate plate to the toothed plate is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The intermediate plate is lanced out in severalplac'es to form tongues 52, attached at one end, while the outer plate has matching In assembly when. pressing the plates together the tongues are inserted through'the slots and then bent backward over the outer plate securely fastening thetwo plates together;

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do [11017 wish to be limited to the details herein disclosedotherwise than as set forthin'the claim, but what I claim is:

In a saddle'of the class described, a saddle seat comprising a flexible top covering, a resilient padding, a formed base plate, a supplementary plate, a series of pointed projections extending inwardly. and. upwardly on the supplementary .plate,- means for: securely. fastening said steel plates together, said means including several lugs formed downwardly from said baseplate, said supplementary plate having slots matching said lugs, said flexible top covering being folded around and underneath said baseplate, and being securely gripped by said pointed projections of the supplementary plate, said lugs being folded over against said supplementary plate, permanently fastening said plates together.

CHARLES A. PERSONS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Meisselbach Oct. 23, 1900 Mesinger May 18, 1926 Brandt Sept. 3, 1935 Mesinger Dec. 17, 1940 Kalter June 30, 1942 

